Email Campaigns

A campaign is the mechanism for sending an email template to a mailing list. Campaigns handle the full lifecycle of an email send: selecting recipients, scheduling delivery, tracking progress, recording engagement metrics, and supporting A/B testing for optimisation.

Campaign Lifecycle

Every campaign progresses through a series of statuses:

Status Transitions

• Draft can transition to: Scheduled, Sending

• Scheduled can transition to: Sending (at the scheduled time), Cancelled

• Sending can transition to: Sent (automatically when complete), Paused, Cancelled

• Paused can transition to: Sending (on resume), Cancelled

Creating a Campaign

1. Navigate to Email > Campaigns.

2. Click New Campaign.

3. Fill in the campaign details:

   • Name: An internal name for this campaign (recipients do not see it).

   • Subject: The email subject line that recipients will see in their inbox.

   • Template: Select an active template from your library. Only active templates appear in the picker.

   • Mailing List: Select the mailing list of recipients. The picker shows each list's subscriber count and type (static or segment).

4. Optionally configure A/B testing (see below).

5. Click Save as Draft to save without sending, or proceed to send/schedule.

Editing a Campaign

You can edit all fields of a campaign while it is in Draft status. Once a campaign has been sent, scheduled, or is actively sending, its core fields (template, list, subject) are locked to maintain data integrity.

To edit a draft campaign:

1. Navigate to Email > Campaigns.

2. Click on the draft campaign.

3. Make your changes.

4. Click Save.

Sending a Campaign

Immediate Send

1. Open a draft campaign (or create a new one).

2. Review the template, subject line, and mailing list.

3. Click Send Now.

4. concorbit resolves the recipients from the mailing list, excludes globally unsubscribed contacts, and begins dispatching emails in batches.

5. The campaign status changes to Sending and then Sent when all emails have been dispatched.

Scheduled Send

1. Open a draft campaign.

2. Click Schedule.

3. Select the date and time for delivery.

4. Click Confirm Schedule.

5. The campaign status changes to Scheduled.

6. At the scheduled time, concorbit automatically begins sending. The status changes to Sending and then Sent.

To cancel a scheduled send before it begins, open the campaign and click Cancel.

Batch Sending

Campaigns are sent in batches rather than all at once. This approach:

• Prevents overloading your SMTP provider.

• Allows you to pause a send mid-way if you spot an issue.

• Gives the system time to process bounce notifications between batches.

The batch size is configured per campaign. During sending, the campaign tracks sent_count and total_recipients so you can monitor progress as a percentage.

Pause and Resume

If a campaign is actively sending and you need to stop it temporarily:

1. Open the campaign.

2. Click Pause.

3. The campaign status changes to Paused. No further emails are dispatched.

To resume:

1. Open the paused campaign.

2. Click Resume.

3. Sending continues from where it left off. Recipients who already received the email are not sent a duplicate.

Cancelling a Campaign

To permanently stop a campaign:

1. Open a scheduled, sending, or paused campaign.

2. Click Cancel.

3. The campaign status changes to Cancelled. It cannot be resumed.

Emails that were already sent before cancellation are not recalled, they remain in recipients' inboxes.

A/B Testing

A/B testing lets you compare two versions of your campaign to find what performs best. concorbit supports two types of A/B tests:

Subject Line Testing

Test two different subject lines with the same template:

1. When creating or editing a draft campaign, enable A/B Testing.

2. Select Subject line as the test type.

3. Enter your Variant A subject (the original subject field).

4. Enter your Variant B subject.

5. Set the split percentage: this determines what fraction of your list receives each variant (e.g. 50/50, or 20/80).

Content Variant Testing

Test two different templates:

1. Enable A/B Testing.

2. Select Content as the test type.

3. The original template is Variant A.

4. Select a second template as Variant B.

5. Set the split percentage.

How the Split Works

When the campaign sends, concorbit randomly assigns each recipient to Variant A or Variant B based on the split percentage. Each recipient receives only one variant.

Winner Selection

After both variants have been sent, you can evaluate performance:

• Manual selection: Review the per-variant stats (opens, clicks) and click Select Winner on the variant you prefer.

• Auto-select: Set an auto-select timer (in hours). After the specified time, concorbit automatically selects the variant with the better performance based on the winner metric (open rate or click rate).

A/B Test Metrics

Each variant tracks its own stats independently:

• Opens and open rate

• Clicks and click rate

• Bounces

The campaign detail view shows a side-by-side comparison of Variant A and Variant B performance.

Campaign Analytics

Every campaign tracks the following metrics, calculated from actual email log data:

Delivery Metrics

Engagement Metrics

Deliverability Metrics

Viewing Campaign Analytics

1. Navigate to Email > Campaigns.

2. Click on a sent or sending campaign.

3. The campaign detail view shows all metrics at a glance.

4. For A/B test campaigns, metrics are broken down by variant.

For aggregate analytics across all campaigns, see the Email Analytics page.

Campaign Statuses Quick Reference

Using the Canvas for Campaigns

The Email module provides canvas panels for campaign management:

• Campaign List panel. Shows your campaigns with status, send date, and open rate. Click a campaign to drive the detail panel.

• Campaign Detail panel. Full campaign view with subject, recipients, stats, and workflow buttons (send, schedule, pause, cancel).

Both panels are included in the Email Workspace canvas template, alongside templates, builder, lists, analytics, and contacts panels.

Recipient Resolution

When a campaign sends, concorbit resolves the recipient list at send time:

1. The mailing list's contacts are loaded.

   • For static lists: subscribed contacts from the pivot table.

   • For segment lists: contacts matching the CRM segment filters at the moment of send.

2. Contacts without an email address are excluded.

3. Inactive contacts are excluded.

4. Globally unsubscribed contacts (those who have opted out of all emails for your workspace) are excluded.

This means the actual number of recipients may differ from the mailing list's subscriber count if contacts have become inactive, unsubscribed, or lost their email address since the list was last updated.

Deleting a Campaign

You can delete campaigns in Draft, Sent, or Cancelled status. Deleting a campaign soft-deletes it, it is removed from the campaign list but can be recovered if needed. Active (Sending, Scheduled, Paused) campaigns must be cancelled before deletion.

Best Practices

• Always preview your campaign before sending. Open the template preview and send a test email to yourself.

• Start with A/B testing on subject lines. Subject line tests are low-effort and high-impact, small changes in wording can significantly affect open rates.

• Use segment-based lists for targeted campaigns. Segment lists pull fresh data at send time, so you always reach the right audience.

• Monitor bounce rates after each campaign. A spike in bounces can indicate list hygiene issues or a problem with your SMTP provider.

• Schedule campaigns for optimal times. Most B2B emails perform best on Tuesday to Thursday mornings.

• Pause and review if you notice high bounce rates during a send. It is better to pause, investigate, and resume than to continue sending to a problematic list.